School’s tourney raises money for reading program
The 16th annual Pine Island Elementary Fishing Tournament and Derby, sponsored by the Matlacha Hookers, was held Sunday at Olde Fish House Marina. Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the high 70s, people began arriving for the annual event. The money raised goes towards the Pine Island Elementary School Accelerated Reading Program and accelerated tools.
“This day is a beautiful gift God gave us,” Hooker DJ Ruscik said. “A beautiful day in the neighborhood. So far we have two groups fishing as of now and by the end of the day there will be more than 100 kids. As you know it’s all about the kids.
“We have a lot of things going on,” she continued. “Our anglers will be in at 2 p.m., the fish fry is at 4 p.m., 50/50 all day. We have more than $20,000 in items donated for our Silent Auction. Well over 100 baskets for our Chinese auction, and we’re always looking to do a little better than last year.”
The winners of the Children’s Derby in the Sharks – 4th and 5th grades was Zeek Darna with a total weight of 2.33 pounds. Finishing first in the Pinfish (2nd and 3rd grades) was Triston Sistare with .74 pounds and the Shrimp (Kindergarten and 1st grade) winner was Zoey Peterson with 1.20 pounds.
For the youngsters the grand champion was Darna and the Principals Award went Nicholas Olvieros.
In the adult tournament, the Wounded Warrior Anglers captured the redfish portion with 8.86 pounds; Team Titos won the trout competition with 1.4 pounds; and Tranquility Plumbing won both for snook (9.9 pounds) and the slam (14.04 pounds)
The winning teams of the redfish, trout and snook each received $500; the winner of the slam received $1,000.
“We had 111 children and 47 adult anglers fish today,” Ruscik said. “One of the many highlights of the day was when Team Wounded Warrior Anglers presented their entire $500 to Judy and Dave Souders; the founders of Wounded Warrior Anglers.”
As of last year, the Matlacha Hookers have donated more than $176,000 to Pine Island Elementary.
It all began with gold fish hooks Hookers founder Nancy Goodwin’s husband began giving away.
“In 1998, 17 women got together to form the Matlacha Hookers,” Goodwin said. “What started the Matlacha Hookers was, I guess, a kind of vision. My husband began handing out gold plated hooks to the ladies. He kept them on his hat and occasionally someone would ask for one. After a while several ladies had them and someone came up with the name ‘Matlacha Hookers’ and I thought we could do some good with this. Our first meeting was held at the Lob Lolly in October 1998 and we incorporated in 2002.
“I just thought we could do something for the island in a charitable fashion,” Goodwin said. “The women that joined when we started, and every woman that has joined since then, are the finest women to walk the planet. These girls are all about heart, not about recompense, but what they can do for the community. This is the most giving community on the planet and when we held our first fishing tournament we raised $4,000. At that point in time that was the largest money-raising event ever held on the island. Not only did we raise money we raised the self esteem of every woman involved.
“At the time the PIE library had maybe a quarter of a wall of books,” she went on to say. “Since then we have saturated the library with books, bought them new computers, smart-boards for the classrooms and enhanced the playground. I have to say though that I never thought it would grow to become this.”
Music was provided by Not Guilty, Trailer Park Barbie and the Boys, Brother Love Too, Rudy and Friends, The Good Bad Kids and Strange Arrangement throughout the day as kids fished from the docks.
“I can’t express how thankful we are at Pine Island Elementary,” Principal Rob Mazzoli said. “Through the years, you have supported the children of Pine Island with generous donations. This year we will use the funds build a reading pavilion in one of our courtyards. I can’t thank the Matlacha Hookers enough.”
The sponsors of this years fishing tournament were Bert’s Bar and Grill, Traders Hitching Post, Wild Child Gallery, Seven Seas Bait and Tackle, Miceli’s Restaurant, Total Payroll Management, Shallow Bait, Little Lilly’s Island Deli, Woody’s Island Rum Bar and Grill, Olde Fish House Marina, Ad and print Craft, Elmquist Eye Group, Kohl’s Cambio Dermatology, Illinois Tool Works, Affordable Roofing, Island Dry Cleaning, Stonegate Bank, Island Girl Fitness Club, Island Seafood Market and the Matlacha Mariners.